


They're There

by Answrs



Series: Ghost!Vivi AU [3]
Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Post-Canon, Rampant Speculation, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, The author cannot tag, author is experimenting with style, dang good bit of au, ghost vivi, heart what heart you dont need a heart, obvious character death tag is obvious, the author will begin running now, the tag would be a spoiler alert if it didnt happen like the first line in, works as standalone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-20
Updated: 2018-04-20
Packaged: 2019-04-25 07:32:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14373945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Answrs/pseuds/Answrs
Summary: I'm here at the beginning of the endOh, The end of infinity with youThey're there, and Arthur lives on.(The worst deaths are those that can't be denied.)





	They're There

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted well before the other two. A single line is retconned technically by the two other "new" ones, but remains unchanged here to keep the format. Can be considered an AU to this AU if it makes you feel better. :p
> 
> Illustration (and the original posting) can be found on my tumblr:  
> http://answrs.tumblr.com/post/136793986760/so-some-might-remember-the-tags-from-this-post

They’re there as he arranges her funeral, just twenty-seven and now the last mortal member of their small group.

They’re there as he wakes from the nightmares, guilt of the cave returning with memories of that call from the hospital, the doctor’s ‘ _there’s been an accident_ ’ playing on repeat.

They’re there when the last of the patents go through on his arm, the shock and celebration when he gets the first commission to build another for someone else.

They’re there when Lance falls ill, and a life of smoke and oil is diagnosed as cancer, late stage and not much time to go.

They’re there when the investigations he joins them on taper from weekly to monthly to few and far between, as work piles up and he needs to choose where his focus really lies.

They’re there that first interview, when a ten year old boy is waking up to his first working arm since the accident and the magazine wants to hear from the engineer that made it possible.

They’re there when he turns his uncle’s legacy from fixing cars to fixing people, but still holds on to that first workshop, for times when he just needs to remember the gruff old man with a heart of gold and steel that took him in when he needed it most.

They’re there when he celebrates the Pepper girls’ fourth star for as many restaurants, spread across the country as each moves out but never on from the food of Paradiso.

They’re there when he becomes the highest sought after inventor in medical prosthetics, innovations having changed the field permanently.

They’re there when he laughs at the interviewer that calls him one of the country’s richest bachelors, as he tells her his heart was taken long ago and he is want for no other.

They’re there when the cane joins his glasses as permanent features to his person, when artificial nerves keep his remaining hand steady long after the old can’t handle the minute details of his work.

They’re there when his mechanic past is only a blip in the public’s radar and he could have stopped working years ago and never have wanted again, had his drive to help not kept him tinkering away with those tools and wires.

They’re there that terrifying day when the first heart attack strikes, when he just waves it off with a laugh that it was perfect timing, turning his attention back to the regulator sitting nearly completed on the bench.

They’re there at the ceremony when that first child from all those years ago shakes metal hand with metal hand as the presenter speaks on about lifetime achievements and what it means to be an innovator.

They’re there as it becomes harder and harder for him to get out of bed in the mornings, joints and muscles remembering years upon years of stress and scars.

They’re there that birthday when all three Pepper sisters bring their kids, now with children of their own, to see their honorary granddad, knowing they soon may not have the chance again.

They’re there when he collapses in the workshop, now a small museum, gone back from retirement to see that first real home one last time.

They’re there when he smiles sadly at Vivi’s comforting, that  _it’ll be okay_ ,  _they’ll still be together_ ,  _they’ll be fine, the three of them, just you wait._

 

They’re there as the strength fades from his hold, as he slips away with the fading light, them having protected him from everything but the steady march of time. 

 

They’re there as the doctors come, as the revival attempts fail and the sheet covers the smile they fell in love with all those years ago.

They’re there following the body as it’s taken away, afraid to blink lest they miss the telltale wisp waking from its post-mortal rest.

They’re there standing watch when the coroner prepares for the service, trying to block out the cuts and the needles and the chemicals, their vigil not allowing them reprieve.

They’re there as hundreds pack the service, to pay respect to the nervous blond mechanic that had built and built and grown to touch so many, help thousands more to come.

They’re there with the coffin, when the last mourner has gone home and all that is left are the workers, lowering the box into the ground and sealing the grave.

They’re there, ignoring the not-dog when he suggests  _maybe_ ,  _just_   _maybe_ , his soul has found peace, the guilt of long ago abated by years of forgiveness, love.

They’re there, barely registering the hugs of the last Pepper sister, breaking and knowing she has not lost one sibling today but three.

  
They’re there when fall turns to winter turns to spring, when the flowers come less and less, the world moving on even as they mourn, frozen at the grave of their beloved.

  
They’re there when a son, their nephew, comes and lays flowers and tells how his mother has passed, how a stroke has left her sister in the hospital, the last triplet not long for this world either and  _please, please would they come to say goodbye_ , but they don’t hear him.

  
They’re there when Mystery returns, two tails older and wiser, as he growls how they need to pass on, how Arthur would never want this for them, but they merely float on heedless to his words, and he cannot bear to force them.

  
They’re there long after they fade into legend, two colored lights always burning at the grave of a long lost lover, waiting his return.

_  
They’re there._

_  
They’re there._

 

 

_**They’re there, but he is not.** _

**Author's Note:**

> (taken from the original inspiration post)  
> http://answrs.tumblr.com/post/135429071140/ive-always-thought-the-worst-of-deaths-to-read
> 
> I’ve always thought the worst of deaths to read aren’t those of horrible accidents, not dying alone, not even emotional and pain filled deaths from injury. It’s watching a character you love slipping away at the end of their years, surrounded by family and friends needing comfort more than they themselves, because while it’s one thing to know someone died in their sleep it’s another thing to be there as it happens to sometime so close. and as a reader there’s that small buffer between yourself and a tragic death, there’s always a timeline an accident didn’t happen, a cure is found in time, recovery is successful and your characters are able to push on, be happy again. but there’s very little you can deny about old age, someone slipping away piece by piece with a smile on their face because they’ve accepted no one lives forever, and they’ve had a long time to enjoy their’s, it’s time for them to move on. the frantic denial, pleas for just a little longer from their closest people, knowing there’s nothing they can really do but maybe prolong the pain of loss. because you can protect someone from anything, wrap them in bubble wrap and defend them from harm. but you can’t stop the steady progression of time, marching along slow but constant, skin wrinkling and sight failing, joints creaking and strength waning, and we just want to deny our loved ones’ mortality until reality smashes you in the face and you’re left with those last few days as their body finally gives up fighting, and weariness settles down to their bones.
> 
> Tags:  
> #THIS WAS A VERY DRAWN OUT WAY OF SAYING GUESS WHAT THE THING I JUST WROTE IS ABOUT#I'M SORRY BUT IT BIT ME LAST NIGHT AT 3AM TO DRAW AND I WROTE IT UP ABOUT AN HOUR AGO#TECHNICALLY IT'S THE SECOND EDITION OF THE THING I WAS WRITING WHERE INSTEAD OF ART JOINING LEW IN THE DIE YOUNG CLUB IT'S VI#WHICH I GUESS IS KINDA SPOILER ALERT IF IT DIDN'T HAPPEN LIKE 3 PARAGRAPHS IN BUT YE U KNO#THE ORIGINAL WAS ACTUALLY SUPPOSED TO BE MORE LIKE IT BUT THEN VIVI TOOK OVER AND I RAN WITH IT#BC WE ALWAYS NEED MORE VIVI FOCUSED THINGS#SO THE FIRST (VI'S) IS MORE SPANNING ABOUT A YEAR-ISH#WHILE THE PIC/ART ONE IS LATER ON#AND GDI IT'S HARD ENOUGH TO READ THIS SHIT WHY'D I HAVE TO GO AND WRITE IT LIKE THIS#IT WAS SERIOUSLY GONNA BE A QUICK 'INVERT WHERE VI DIES AND SHE/LEW FOLLOW ART#AND WHEN HE DIES OF OLD AGE THEY WAIT BUT AFTER SO LONG WITH THEM HE'S FINALLY LET GO OF HIS GUILT AND MOVED ON'#LIKE THAT'S ALL IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE I S2G#THEN IT TURNED INTO THESE WHYYYY#I HAVE SO MANY OTHER DRAFTS Y MUST THIS HAPPEN TO ME RN CRIES#UH. YEAH...#SO#DEATH#I GUESS#AND PROBABLY ALSO#SHUT UP ANSWRS


End file.
